Prospective Home Buyers Await Answers On Project

January 31, 1997|By JANE E. DEE; Courant Staff Writer

NEWINGTON — After waiting as long as eight months for their new houses to be built in Hopkins Village, some potential buyers said Thursday they will give the developer of the affordable housing project two more weeks to address their concerns before they look elsewhere.

Gilberto Martinez Sr. of East Hartford is one of seven buyers who have signed contracts with the nonprofit Affordable Housing Ventures Inc. to purchase single-family houses in the Main Street development, across from Churchill Park.

``Why are they marketing this development if they know problems exist?'' Martinez asked Thursday, one day after he and other potential homeowners attended a meeting in town hall to discuss construction delays.

``I'm sure the project didn't fall apart the day after I signed my contract,'' Martinez said. When he signed his contract in September, Martinez said, he was told his house would be built by Dec. 31. It wasn't.

Work on the 36-lot development stopped last fall when a development group and subcontractors filed liens on the property, contending they had not been paid. The 13- acre property, part of the scrapped I-291 project, was sold to Affordable Housing Ventures by the state in the early 1990s for affordable housing.

Charles J. Duffy, chairman of Affordable Housing Ventures' board of directors, said a problem with the contractor, AEG Design/Build Inc. of Hartford, has prevented the houses from being built. Duffy declined to say what the problem is, but told buyers at Wednesday's meeting that he would try to have answers in two weeks.

AEG President Albert E. Gary said he does not know what problem Duffy is referring to. Gary has worked on affordable housing in Hartford, including the Harriet Tubman Court homes on North Main Street and two four-family brick houses on Sigourney Street.

Gary said he has paid subcontractors with the money Affordable Housing Ventures has paid him. However, he said his company is in financial trouble and acknowledged that he is delinquent on a $150,000 loan from the city of Hartford. Gary received the loan to help him restructure $360,000 in debt on his general contracting business as part of the city's $1 million revolving loan fund, established in 1992 to help small businesses.

Gary said he is willing to step aside and have another contractor finish Hopkins Village.

``I think for their comfort level and the bank's comfort level, they wanted me to identify someone else to complete the project,'' Gary said.

There are other problems. Affordable Housing owes a development group $99,000 for its work on the project. The group, Inland/Hixon, was paid about one-half of its fee shortly after the project started, Duffy said. It deferred further payment and agreed to be paid the balance as houses were sold, Duffy said. That agreement was secured by a second mortgage on the project that has now come due.

Duffy said that Affordable Housing Ventures and its lender, Fleet Bank, are negotiating with Inland/Hixon, and that the matter needs to be settled before the bank advances any more money for construction.

For potential buyer Dee Gagliardi, the delays have meant that she and her daughter must continue living out of boxes in two small rooms in a relative's house while they wait for their dream house in Hopkins Village to be built.

Duffy said he believes the project can be salvaged.

``I think it can definitely be completed if all the people involved are reasonable and are dedicated to building houses.''